


Immolate

by Lysippe



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysippe/pseuds/Lysippe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Companion piece to "Detonate," but can stand on its own.)</p><p>No one touches the Girl on Fire without getting burned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immolate

No one touches the Girl on Fire without getting burned, and Johanna isn’t fool enough to think that she is any kind of exception. She knows that they will either heal or destroy each other, but never anything in between, and either way it’s going to hurt like hell. There is just too much anger, too much pain between them for it to work out any other way.

But as Katniss stood there, extending the first genuine offer of help Johanna could ever remember receiving, she knew there was no saying no. She may loathe the thought of being indebted to Katniss, but Johanna was a little low on options, and she felt so desperately, awfully trapped in 13’s hospital. 

And so, on that first night, she finds herself swallowing down the panic fighting its way through her body as she jolts awake, drenched in sweat that feels so much,  _too much_  like water. Katniss is snoring, and she is determined to keep herself quiet, to not give in to the screams threatening to break free from her throat or the tremors that have overcome her entire body.

She thought she was doing a pretty decent job of it, all things considered, but apparently she was wrong, because she doesn’t even realize that Katniss has awakened and made her way across the room until the girl is already  _in her bed_.

Katniss doesn’t touch her, at first. Clearly she didn’t think this through, didn’t consider the potential ramifications of climbing into bed with someone in the throes of a panic attack. Hopefully she will leave and just let Johanna get on with it. But she doesn’t. Moving slowly, as though she’s afraid Johanna will strike out at her, Katniss tentatively wraps one arm around her, then the other, pulling Johanna close, holding her tight.

“I’m here.” Katniss’ lips are by her ear and Johanna is pretty fucking sure that isn’t helping with the trembling.

“I noticed,” she forces out through clenched teeth, half expecting a snippy comeback, a reminder that Katniss didn’t  _have_  to take her in, that Johanna  _owes_ her. But none is forthcoming.

“I’ll stay. If you want. Sometimes that helps me, you know? Just… having someone there?” 

She  _doesn’t_  know, has never known. There was no one to hold her after her games, no one to show any sympathy, or care for the girl who threw words like knives at anyone who came too close. 

But Katniss is warm, and solid, and as uneasy as this makes Johanna, she can feel the panic subsiding a little. This one time, she decides, she will allow herself one moment of weakness. Because damn it, even she has to feel safe sometimes.

“Yeah.”

And she burns.


End file.
